Web authoring tools allow a developer (e.g., a web developer) to create web pages, websites, interactive applications, and the like for use by end users (e.g., visitors to websites). Various such tools currently exist in the marketplace, including DREAMWEAVERT™ and FLEX BUILDER™, both available from MACROMEDIA INC. of San Francisco, Calif. DREAMWEAVER™, for example, allows web developers to design Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) web pages in both a code editor and in a graphical environment. FLEX BUILDER™ is an integrated development environment (IDE) that allows designers to produce Rich Internet Applications (RIA) operable through the FLEX™ presentation server.
Generally, a web page is constrained by the size of the screen that displays it. Whether the web page has been intended for display on a television screen, cell phone or web browser, its contents typically fit within a given pixel area (e.g., 640×480 pixels, 800×600 pixels, 1024×768 pixels, and so on). Therefore, designers typically wish to know where content can be placed on the page in order to be viewable within the display window. For example, if a browser window is sized at 800×600 pixels, any content originally arranged beyond a maximum horizontal length of 800 pixels or a maximum vertical length of 600 pixels will not show in the end user's browser window without the user scrolling up or down, or side-to-side. In other words, the web page “folds” at the edges of the window, and any content placed beyond those edges gets cut off.
Some current web page authoring tools have attempted to actually resize the workspace, pane, or window during the design process, as if it were a browser window, so as to give the designer a preview of the page. Other current solutions included creating the entire web page, taking a screenshot of it, measuring the desired number of pixels along the page, and drawing a line by hand that showed the position of the fold. More recently, some tools have also included rulers and guides, so that a developer may scroll down the page, use the ruler to mark the page at a desired measure, and then drag a guide at that location, thereby indicating the position of a fold. Unfortunately, such solutions add several steps to the design process, making it more cumbersome and increasing costs.